Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi Wednesday said the federal government will uphold the Supreme Court verdict and not place Asia Bibi’s name on the exit control list (ECL) until she is proven guilty.

Until someone is proven guilty, how can we place his name on the ECL?

“Asia Bibi and her family are in Pakistan and they are being provided security by the government”

abhijitm wrote:Americans approached him for mediation between them and Taliban. I am not sure they bypassed ISI, but he appeared amicable to the idea. Given that he still has influence within Taliban ranks ISI would not want to create another channel of negotiation. It is their stand from the beginning that any negotiation happen with Taliban they should be the one facilitating it. I think Americans tried to bypass ISI and maulana paid the price.

It would be interesting to see how Taliban reacts to this murder, afterall he was their founding father. Things would be more clear then.

I am reminded of Mullah Baradar, though, he didn't die. I am also reminded of the Afghan High Peace Council chairman & former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani in c. 2011 for initiating talks with the Taliban. He was killed by a suicide bomber.

In the last week of November, 2012, the Afghan and Pakistani Foreign Ministers met where GoP agreed to release certain Taliban prisoners in its custody for peace talks. Earlier that month, Salahuddin Rabbani, who had taken over from his assassinated father as the new Chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC) had visited Pakistan for the same purpose. In response to these, Pakistan did release 9 Taliban prisoners (out of the Afghan demand for 31) but under the condition that the Pakistani Government would be guiding the peace talks. However, Abdul Gani Baradar continued to be held by Pakistan. A senior Afghan official recalled, while describing the release of the Taliban for peace talks, “Islamabad is telling us that its willing to let the peace kite fly — but only if we accept that its hand will hold and guide the string.”

It was not until July, 2018 when Ms. Alice Wells, Asst. Secretary of State for South & Central Asian Affairs in President Trump’s administration, met with the Taliban in Qatar. Now, we have this.

More a candidate for an 'India Media Stupidity' thread if there was one, no real content other than empty bravado. But the fact that the Pakis trotted out Khalid Kidwai to make some bombastic statements, along with the DDM giving it prominence shows that the Pakis and their Lutyens supporters are clearly rattled by the S400 purchase.

abhijitm wrote:This actually worries me. Sounds like pak army is planning new genocide of balochs and blame it on RAW!

Doesnt the genocide work well for us. 1. Their credibility is zero everywhere2. India will have a valid alibi. Are we up for it? 3. I have said in past, with Chabahar already up and the railway link also up. Pakis would be screwed for ever

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that China has barred the government from disclosing the amount of financial assistance given in the aid package owing to concerns from Beijing’s regional partners, Express News reported.

When asked during a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, the premier said that China has given an aid package like never before, adding that, Beijing does not want the exact figure of the aid to be disclosed.A case of Naam Baday Aur Darshun Chottay!

Talking about the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP)-led protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi, PM Imran said that the government had to tread issue carefully because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The above Article states : “This is clearly double counting of $5.8 billion. In principle, it should have excluded this sum from the commercial banks’ reserves,” said Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, former director general of Debt of Ministry of Finance.

abhijitm wrote:This actually worries me. Sounds like pak army is planning new genocide of balochs and blame it on RAW!

ArjunPandit wrote:Doesnt the genocide work well for us. 1. Their credibility is zero everywhere2. India will have a valid alibi. Are we up for it? 3. I have said in past, with Chabahar already up and the railway link also up. Pakis would be screwed for ever

Arjun Pandit Ji :

Iranians have always had a "Relationship" with Terroristan based on Islam.

At the first sign of an India-Terroristani conflict the Iranians will support the Terroristani Cause.

You will have noticed the "Vibes" of the Iranian Mullahs vis-à-vis Cha Bahar and CPEC. Iranians will DUMP india - Cha Bahar and all - at the Drop of a Hat in Favour of Terroristan but their perfidy will be completed before the Hat touches the Ground!

Chinese are smart. They never give anything in Cash. The amount of aid is not being revealed as china has only promised duty free access of Pakistani goods to the chinese market. For the first year it is $1 Billion worth. But this is just a promise not actual cash in the bank for the porkis and what if ahem ahem there are not enough chinese importers willing to buy porki goods?

“Beijing has offered this facility in response to Pakistan’s request for duty-free status that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as Bangladesh are entitled to,” said Dawood while addressing a press conference on Wednesday – a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan concluded his maiden official visit to China

Vips wrote:Chinese are smart. They never give anything in Cash. The amount of aid is not being revealed as china has only promised duty free access of Pakistani goods to the chinese market. For the first year it is $1 Billion worth. But this is just a promise not actual cash in the bank for the porkis and what if ahem ahem there are not enough chinese importers willing to buy porki goods?

Whoring to the US was lucrative. A lot of moolah going to the Muj in Afghanistan was siphoned off to individual accounts for example. Now, becoming a whore to China is such a let down. No one can beat the Sher Khan in paying off the whores generously and Pakis must be remembering those good old days.Gautam

^^in a way chinese grants might be more dangerous as that would require pakis to work(hasnt worked elsewhere, but chins havent invested that much elsewhere too). Khan is like a drug dealer. Kept on pakis hooked on cocaine now they will find anywhere to enjoy

anupmisra wrote:Uh-oh! Another U-turn but this one could have severe repercussions.

Govt refuses to put Asia Bibi on ECL

Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi Wednesday said the federal government will uphold the Supreme Court verdict and not place Asia Bibi’s name on the exit control list (ECL) until she is proven guilty.

Until someone is proven guilty, how can we place his name on the ECL?

“Asia Bibi and her family are in Pakistan and they are being provided security by the government”

Aasia bibi is in USA via Italy or in Italy via USA. EU president of parliament has also declared he would be meeting Aasia bibi in a few days. So more chance of her being in Italy. Canadians & UK have also offered her visa but pleaded helplesness to offer 24 x 365 security considering large population of paki infestation in these 2 countries and thus they have been overlooked.

Aasia bibi is in USA via Italy or in Italy via USA. EU president of parliament has also declared he would be meeting Aasia bibi in a few days. So more chance of her being in Italy. Canadians & UK have also offered her visa but pleaded helplesness to offer 24 x 365 security considering large population of paki infestation in these 2 countries and thus they have been overlooked.

The shameless trials and tribulations of the ever "flexible" paki pride desperately jumping through myriad hoops for that elusive IMF loan is simply astounding.

Vips wrote:Chinese are smart. They never give anything in Cash. The amount of aid is not being revealed as china has only promised duty free access of Pakistani goods to the chinese market.

I hope it is not for goods produced by chinese by using chinese labor and uber tech in pakistan

How does it matter, ArjunPandit ji??

What does matter however, is that the paki's little gotis are very firmly in the tightest of the cheeni grip.

It was squeezed rather harshly during imran khan niazi's recent trip to begging errrr beijing.

this harsh treatment of imran khan niazi's little testicular assets may seriously affect his run up for the remaining duration of his "democratically" elected tenure.

The hans may well have renamed im the dim as "one hung low" in a rather fetching chinese translation of the popular name.

Also, note how the famed bajwa doctrine has worked wonderfully well, just as it was originally designed to, by keeping the paki army chief's even smalled testicular assets far away from the grasping hands of the hans.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday briefed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on energy and infrastructure projects deals signed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) amid the fund’s concerns over implications of the energy contracts on the fiscal framework.

The IMF team met with officials of the Ministry of Planning and Power Division during the second day of talks, as a $9 billion discrepancy surfaced between the figures quoted by Islamabad and Beijing on account of cost of ongoing and completed projects.

The cost of 22 ongoing and completed projects shown by the Chinese Embassy is $9 billion lower than what the Planning Ministry claims. The discrepancy of $9 billion may carry serious implications in making accurate projections related to future CPEC related outflows, said sources in the Ministry of Finance.

The IMF team inquired about the implications of CPEC energy deals on the country’s fiscal health. Its queries revolved around implications of sovereign guarantees that Pakistan has extended to Chinese power producers. It also questioned the high rate of returns that Pakistan has offered to Chinese investors.

The issue of $9 billion CPEC discrepancy was not discussed with the IMF team, the sources claimed. The Ministry of Planning and Development gave a briefing on infrastructure projects and the Power Division held a session on the energy projects.

The Ministry of Planning has officially declared the cost of 22 ongoing and completed projects as $28.6 billion. These figures have been shared with the federal cabinet as well as with the IMF during staff level talks that held last month.

The Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing said in a press briefing held last month that 22 projects, valued at $19 billion, were either under consideration or have been completed.

The Chinese embassy is not showing Kohala power project, the 300 megawatts Gwadar Power Plant and Oracle power plant among the ongoing schemes, said an official of the Planning Ministry on condition of anonymity. But all these three schemes cannot be declared ongoing, as no civil work has begun.

“Our assessment is that the cost of 22 projects is $28 billion,” said Hasan Daud Butt, the official spokesman of the Planning Ministry on CPEC affairs while responding to a question. But he did not share a list of projects to back his claim.

Headed by its Washington-based Mission Chief Harald Finger, the IMF delegation is visiting Pakistan to negotiate a bailout package – the second in the last five years. Finance Minister Asad Umar on Wednesday told a TV channel that Pakistan may seek a minimum $5 billion to $6 billion from the IMF.

On October 26, the Chinese embassy gave a presentation to media persons, which showed that so far 10 early harvest projects have been completed while 12 were under execution. The embassy shared the complete list along with the cost of these schemes.

According to the embassy, three infrastructure projects costing $5.7 billion were either completed or under construction. Similarly, seven energy projects worth $4.9 billion have been completed while five energy schemes costing $7.7 billion were at various phases of implementation.

China has put the total cost of 12 energy projects at $12.6 billion.

The Chinese Deputy Chief of Mission Lijian Zhao also shared terms of these deals. He told media that repayment period was 15 to 20 years including 5 to 8 years grace period.

He said all the energy projects that are currently under implementation have been financed by the Chinese companies by taking commercial loans. “Interest rates of these commercial loans are in the range of 5.3% to 6.3% including the insurance cost,” he said.

The sources in Finance Ministry said the authorities on Thursday gave a comprehensive briefing to the IMF technical team on the financing structure of the energy deals. They said the briefing was given on the power purchase and implementation agreements signed with these power producers.

The sources said the IMF’s main concern was that in case the Central Power Purchasing Agency Guaranteed Limited defaulted on its payments to the power producers who would be picking the cost.

The IMF was informed that the debt to equity ratio of these commercial deals was 75% debt and 25% equity except in case of Karot hydro power project where the debt ratio was shown at 80%.

However, the returns on equity were exceptionally high. In case of coal-fired power plants the return was between 27.2% and 34.49%. It was almost double than the standard 17% rates. In case of hydel-based projects, the internal rate of return (IRR) was 17%.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/worl ... ctionfrontPakistani Christian Freed After Being Cleared in Blasphemy CaseBy Salman Masood, Nov. 8, 2018ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani Christian woman who was cleared last week of blasphemy charges after spending eight years on death row has been released from prison but remains under government protection because of threats to her life, officials said Thursday.The woman, Asia Bibi, was released from a prison in central Pakistan and flown to the capital, Islamabad, late Wednesday night, a senior government official said Thursday on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter.One official, however, denied news reports that Ms. Bibi had already flown out of the country. “She is in Pakistan,” said Mohammad Faisal, the spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign office. Ms. Bibi’s family has appealed for asylum, saying she is in grave danger as hard-line Islamists call for her execution. Her lawyer, Saiful Malook, has already left Pakistan, citing threats to his own life......Mr. Malook, Ms. Bibi’s lawyer, said the military had assured him that his client was safe.“The Pakistani Army assured me that she remains safe, that nobody shall hurt her, and that she should be allowed to leave provided that she is safe,” he said.Gautam

Canadian government has slapped up to 58 percent anti-dumping duties on Pakistani steel exporters – a move that rarely happened for the country that often takes such measures to protect its local metal producers.

Canada Border Services Agency imposed provisional duty on imports of carbon steel welded pipe from Pakistan after its inquiry found that the dumping “caused injury or is threatening to cause injury to the domestic (Canadian) industry”.

In a written reply to a series of questions posed by parliamentarians, the National Health Services minister informed the National Assembly on Wednesday that there were no federal government-run dedicated mental health hospitals or institutes in the country.

Between Pims, Polyclinic, Federal General Hospital and the National Institute of Rehabilitation, only Pims has a functional psychiatry department.

The number of mental health patients registered at Pims is staggering: about 39,000 in 2017.

This figure accounts only for those able to access such services at one facility in the federal capital.

So when the minister states that the prevalence of mental health disorders is considerably less than commonly estimated (ie one-third of the population), the question that naturally arises is: are we stumbling in the dark when it comes to an issue that WHO considers a public health priority for developing countries?

The answer, to a large extent, is yes.

It was only in 2001, through the Mental Health Ordinance, that the issue was reframed as a disease, a shift from the colonial-era praxis of treating it as a sign of criminal deviancy.

Since devolution, most of the provincial legislatures have passed the MHO.

Yet, in the past 17 years, such laws have remained virtually unimplemented.

Between the stigma of mental illness, the lack of quality mental health provisions, and the threat of cruel, unsafe ‘treatments’ that still persist, and that are exacerbated by a range of psychologically destabilising socioeconomic factors, Pakistan will continue to suffer from a high disease burden and its concomitant impact on the economy.

A course correction away from this bleak path will require informed decision-making — through research, yes, but also through increasing awareness and sensitisation among public health policymakers, guided by mental health advocates.

While specialist capacity building is needed, any mental health policy ought to prioritise and approach this issue holistically by focusing on entire populations, instead of the medical needs of a particular subset of individuals.

Such a policy must focus not only on providing quality mental healthcare at the tertiary level, but also building capacity at the primary and secondary levels — from prevention, to early detection and treatment, to rehabilitation.

Speaking to the Assembly, the NHS parliamentary secretary said that this government is in the process of developing such a policy.

The hope is that this matter is treated with the urgency and importance it deserves.

Now the paki loons are bleating loudly about the Arihant.. Looks like the crore kammandus converged in Pindi for the quaterly shalwar browning festival..

"The development marks the first actual deployment of ready-to-fire nuclear warheads in South Asia which is a matter of concern not only for the Indian Ocean littoral states but also for the international community at large," Radio Pakistan quoted Dr Faisal as saying.

What's the problem bruh? You achieved credible second strike capability with babur, dint you? So why all the takleef?

“The bellicose language employed by the top Indian leadership highlights the threats to strategic stability in South Asia and raises questions about responsible nuclear stewardship in India,” the Foreign Office spokesperson said on Thursday.

Dr Faisal said the increased frequency of missile tests by India, aggressive posturing and deployment of nuclear weapons calls for an assessment of the non-proliferation benefits resulting from Indian membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime.

Pakistan has spoken! The powers that be must be quaking... with laughter..

"Pakistan is committed to the objective of strategic stability in South Asia and believes that the only way forward for both countries is to agree on measures for nuclear and missile restraint," he said.

Canadian government has slapped up to 58 percent anti-dumping duties on Pakistani steel exporters – a move that rarely happened for the country that often takes such measures to protect its local metal producers.

Canada Border Services Agency imposed provisional duty on imports of carbon steel welded pipe from Pakistan after its inquiry found that the dumping “caused injury or is threatening to cause injury to the domestic (Canadian) industry”.

Islamabad administration withdraws orders for arrest of local TLP leaders

"Boyz with Kendo Styx just wanna have fun"

The Islamabad district administration has withdrawn orders for the arrest of 19 Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leaders who were allegedly involved in violence during the three-day protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi last week, it emerged on Friday.

the district administration had issued warrants for 19 persons, "who were involved in violence and incitement", under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance 1960.

However, Islamabad district magistrate Hamza Shafqaat issued a notification on November 7 stating that all 19 orders issued on November 2 have been withdrawn with immediate effect, "in [the] public interest".

Attempts to seek a comment on why specifically the arrest warrants have been withdrawn were unsuccessful, as the deputy commissioner did not answer his phone.

It is unclear if the decision to withdraw the arrest orders was taken under the terms of the agreement or due to other considerations.

A senior leader of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini, has claimed that the federal government has violated the 18th Amendment by neglecting the Balochistan government while signing agreements with foreign countries about natural resources of the province.

In a statement issued here, he claimed that China had reservations over the reported understanding between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for making the latter the third partner in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The senator said there were widespread speculations that the Pakistan government might have signed a deal with Saudi Arabia for giving the latter permission to explore natural mineral in Reko Diq and to establish an oil refinery in Gwadar.

Saudi Arabia wanted to use its proxies against its regional rival Iran

chetak wrote:What does matter however, is that the paki's little gotis are very firmly in the tightest of the cheeni grip.

It was squeezed rather harshly during imran khan niazi's recent trip to begging errrr beijing.

this harsh treatment of imran khan niazi's little testicular assets may seriously affect his run up for the remaining duration of his "democratically" elected tenure.

The hans may well have renamed im the dim as "one hung low" in a rather fetching chinese translation of the popular name.

Also, note how the famed bajwa doctrine has worked wonderfully well, just as it was originally designed to, by keeping the paki army chief's even smalled testicular assets far away from the grasping hands of the hans.

While i agree with your correction, I respectfully disagree with what matters to pakis. Their goatis were always with someone. Before '47 it was brits then the americans and now the chinese. they are not called rentier state for nothing. As I said on BRF earlier, Pakis are playing "Heads I shoot my head, tails I blow myself". The question that matters to me is whether they take Chins with them or not? Right now I see only the following global scenarios possible(truth table kinda)1. China Collapses-Pakis on Chini side (Collapse)2. China Collapses-Pakis on US Side (Not much upside)3. China emerges-Paki on chini side (They are screwed, Khan will at least ensure they are screwed forever)4. China emerges-Pakis return to their old masters(Less likely, )5. China-US stay in detente, pakis dont stay for being la-hore to both

Please help me "come" to a conclusion and identify a scenario that ends well for them or is it just me fantasizing at night

chetak wrote:What does matter however, is that the paki's little gotis are very firmly in the tightest of the cheeni grip.

It was squeezed rather harshly during imran khan niazi's recent trip to begging errrr beijing.

this harsh treatment of imran khan niazi's little testicular assets may seriously affect his run up for the remaining duration of his "democratically" elected tenure.

The hans may well have renamed im the dim as "one hung low" in a rather fetching chinese translation of the popular name.

Also, note how the famed bajwa doctrine has worked wonderfully well, just as it was originally designed to, by keeping the paki army chief's even smalled testicular assets far away from the grasping hands of the hans.

While i agree with your correction, I respectfully disagree with what matters to pakis. Their goatis were always with someone. Before '47 it was brits then the americans and now the chinese. they are not called rentier state for nothing. As I said on BRF earlier, Pakis are playing "Heads I shoot my head, tails I blow myself". The question that matters to me is whether they take Chins with them or not? Right now I see only the following global scenarios possible(truth table kinda)1. China Collapses-Pakis on Chini side (Collapse)2. China Collapses-Pakis on US Side (Not much upside)3. China emerges-Paki on chini side (They are screwed, Khan will at least ensure they are screwed forever)4. China emerges-Pakis return to their old masters(Less likely, )5. China-US stay in detente, pakis dont stay for being la-hore to both

Please help me "come" to a conclusion and identify a scenario that ends well for them or is it just me fantasizing at night

The brits, the amerikis and the other goras have not ever gripped the paki gotis but have only caressed them or at times simply stopped caressing them, only to return time and again to caress them, whereas the cheenis have actually squeezed the gotis and also told off imran khan niazi, put him on a very short lease while sending the bajwa doctrine a very terse and clear message.

This time, the hans have jumped in with both feet and decided to put the moves on gwadar to secure their lines of trade ans well as logistics for their navy. They have declared their hand publicly and the amrikis have hit them with long time gamed trade sanctions.

The hans are now like the proverbial monkey with its fist in the bottle. The han monkey's hand has gone through the hole, but his clenched fist can't fit back out.

If the hans back out now from their paki commitments, they will never be able to get back into pakiland again and if they manage to do so, the very first thing that the pakis block off will be gwadar.

The prime objective of the hans is securing unrestricted land and sea access to gwadar. The rest of the CPEC drama is just to cover this vital objective and is merely icing on the cake. The pakis have realized this end game in no uncertain terms.

The ameriki deep state is incorrigibly paki pasand because the paki army and the paki govt are both easily controllable. The hans are also playing the exact same controlling game.

The amerikis will be back sometime in the medium term but they will try to hobble the cheeni first so that the hans will not easily be able to aggressively push projects like CPEC.

the cheeni are actually too big to fail but the pains due to their slowdown will have caused some fairly severe economic ripples across the region as well as globally as other competing economies realign and absorb new opportunities.

And, before I call it a night, here's one for the road. From the land of high opinionated idiots.

Pakistan need not worry about financial liabilities tied to Saudi aid; it has paid in advance in bloodPTI is right

ONE fails to understand what exactly justifies the opposition’s demand to know the ‘conditions’ attached to the recent bailout package amounting to $6 billion that Prime Minister Imran Khan secured during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

Why was it ‘halal’ for the PML-N to not ‘take the nation into confidence’ on the terms and details of the understanding with our Saudi benefactors and how come it is not so for the PTI to not divulge the fine print of the ‘deal’?

The PTI government is absolutely right in its assertion that there are no strings attached to the recent aid package from the House of Saud.

Pakistan does not need to worry about any financial liabilities tied to the Saudi package in future. The country has already paid for it in advance. In blood.

The continued Saudi support is in return for the services rendered for the promotion of an orthodox religious project. It is ‘diyat’ (compensation) for the thousands of Pakistanis killed in sectarian violence. Scores of thousands killed on the ‘jihad’ battlefields. Men and women killed all across the country in suicide bombings and attacks on places of worship. Children killed in schools.

Not to forget the countless law-enforcement and security personnel who laid down their lives trying to put some genies back into the bottle.

We do not owe anyone anything in terms of future payments. All that is required of us is to ensure our present behaviour is in keeping with our past track record of servility and criminal neglect of our responsibility.

The citizens just need to continue to evade income tax so that the leaders continue to undertake foreign begging tours. The leaders need to continue to methodically avoid creating an environment conducive for investment and jobs creation, so that the exodus to foreign lands — both legal and illegal — continues in pursuit of low-end jobs, and remittances keep supplanting exports. This way, the rulers and the ruled would remain beholden to their foreign benefactors.

We can send the prime minister out as many times as we want, hold as many trade fairs and investment roadshows as we like — but so long as the only ‘right’ we want to exercise is to incite people through hate speech, bring them onto the streets, and paralyse life why wouldn’t even the domestic investor leave, let alone foreign investment be brought in?

Oh, I get it. Its sarcasm! Paki style, self- deprecating black comedy to reflect on the darkly humorous side of paki behavior.

it has only siphoned off the money pumped in by USA and Saudi Arabia into Pakistan to sell crap to Pakistan

There was no reason to believe that China will change its behaviour except in the convulated mind of Pakistani strategists

Gwadar and Silk route may be important to China but not important to the extent that it would try to fill endless hole called Pakistan

Strategic importance of Pakistan route to China is more in the mind of brf strategists rather than an actual economic reality. China will show middle finger to Pakistan if Pakistan actually wants China to fund its multi billion dollar problems. Or, it actually already did.

An actual and real political government in Pakistan wpuld have tried to sue peace with India and Afghanistan and change the course but Imran Khan is controlled by Pakistani army which will continue to follow a sucidal path

Pakistan news to reduce its real and hidden military and internal security budget by around 75% to generate investible funds to turn around the economy. And this will take something like 20 years.

More a candidate for an 'India Media Stupidity' thread if there was one, no real content other than empty bravado. But the fact that the Pakis trotted out Khalid Kidwai to make some bombastic statements, along with the DDM giving it prominence shows that the Pakis and their Lutyens supporters are clearly rattled by the S400 purchase.

Just shows for all their bragging, how rattled the TSP guys are.India's SAM systems in procurement are capable of anti-CM missions.-Akash-SpyDer-MRSAM (IA, IAF, IN). Interestingly IA version is being tested even against BMs (so goodbye Nasr!)S-400 (hence the mast mounted radar)

Bottomline, the cruise missile capabilities of TSP, imported from SA & PRC are steadily getting countered.As regards MIRVs, I am sure DRDO has that on its roadmap, besides which how many missiles can TSP deploy its imported MIRVs on?

Popcorn munching time as TSP's braggadacio gets steadily countered, how long will PRC prop up its little rabid broke munna.

Pakistan has a solution for every Indian challenge and the set of solutions go a long way back indeed.

If there were more number of Muslims left behind in India than in naya Pakistan, Jinnah floated the 'hostage nation' theory solution.If there were more soldiers in the Indian Army, the Field Marshal and his confidante ZAB floated the 1:10 ratio.If the IA came to the outskirts of Lahore in c. 1965, Pakistan said that Prophet Muhammad had been cited in Madina on a white horse shouting 'Lahore Chalo' and that Djinns spread a net to capture Indian aerial bombs & fighter planes!If India builds n-weapons, Pakistan would also detonate a few etc. If India sends manned-space flight, Pakistan would also send an astronaut into space.

ISLAMABAD: They have called for the assassination of Pakistan's Supreme Court judges, demanded a mutiny in the armed forces and have vowed to wipe out the Netherlands with nuclear weapons.

In just a few years, the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party (TLP) -- or the Movement at the Service of the Prophet -- has become one of the most powerful groups in Pakistan, dictating terms to successive governments and paralysing the country at will with violent protests.

Led by firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the far-right religious party has weaponised the ultra-sensitive blasphemy issue in the Muslim-majority nation, sparking fears that the TLP is radicalising the country's heartland and opening a dangerous new chapter in Pakistan's brutal confrontation with extremism.

Here's a rundown of why the group is so powerful and how they have been able to harness the extraordinarily inflammatory charge of blasphemy to increase their following across Pakistan.

The TLP began as a faction demanding the release of Mumtaz Qadri -- a bodyguard who gunned down Punjab governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad in 2011.

Qadri later cited Taseer's calls for reforming the country's blasphemy laws as his motive and was hanged in 2016.

The TLP formed an official political party -- earning more than two million votes and two provincial seats in this year's general election, in what analysts called a "surprisingly" rapid rise.

By making blasphemy the party's central -- and arguably only -- talking point, the TLP have positioned themselves as the protectors of Islam, effectively painting their foes as enemies of the religion.

"They have presented themselves as the sole flag bearers of the blasphemy issue," said columnist Khurshid Nadeem. "Violence is a currency which sells in today's times...they have proved that they can also kill and be killed for their cause."

The TLP entered the national consciousness in 2017 when supporters blockaded the capital Islamabad with violent protests for several weeks, over changes made to the oath taken by parliamentarians, which the group deemed blasphemous. At least seven died in the violence.

The protests succeeded in forcing the resignation of the country's federal law minister in a military-brokered agreement that saw the TLP virtually absolved of any wrongdoing.

Since then, they have strong-armed Prime Minister Imran Khan's newly minted administration into firing an economics adviser for belonging to the persecuted Ahmadi religious minority.

The group was also linked with an assassination attempt on former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal in May, although it distanced itself from the incident.

Its leader Rizvi reportedly told journalists that if he took power in the nuclear-armed country he would "wipe Holland off the face of the earth", over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published there.

The TLP flexed its muscles again last week, when hours after the country's Supreme Court quashed the blasphemy conviction of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, its followers flooded the country's streets, causing gridlock.

It called for the assassination of the court's judges, and a "mutiny" in the armed forces.

Khan initially issued a searing rebuke of the group, but his administration appeared to backtrack days later by striking a deal.

"For Pakistani politicians, it's easier to defy the courts than it is a violent mob that claims to be Islam's true representatives," said Omar Waraich from Amnesty International, adding that the government "didn't want to be cast as irreligious."

Following Bibi's release on Wednesday, the TLP accused the government of reneging on the agreement and vowed to return to the streets if she was allowed to leave the country.

Fears of the TLP stem from the group's rising popularity in country's Punjab heartland and their ability to enforce their will on governments with little or no official backlash.

"They are radicalising the people... particularly they are focusing on Punjab and Sindh provinces and have already radicalised a big portion of the society there," security analyst Amir Rana told AFP.

Pakistan security forces remain hesitant to clamp down on religious groups, fearing any heavy-handed move could spark a violent backlash similar to the insurrection spurred by a military crackdown on Islamabad's Red Mosque in 2007.

TLP's rising power is also of particular concern to Pakistan's Ahmadi community, who consider themselves Muslims but are seen as blasphemous in most mainstream Islamic schools of thought, and have long been targeted by extremists.

Chief causes of continuing surge include religious taboos, political timidity and public ignorance, population experts say

For years, Pakistan’s soaring population growth has been evident in increasingly crowded schools, clinics and poor communities across this vast, Muslim-majority nation. But until two weeks ago, no one knew just how serious the problem was. Now they do.

Preliminary results from a new national census — the first conducted since 1998 — show that the population has grown by 57 per cent since then, reaching 207.7 million and making Pakistan the world’s fifth-most-populous country, surpassing Brazil and ranking behind China, India, the United States and Indonesia. The annual birth-rate, while gradually declining, is still alarmingly high. At 22 births per 1,000 people, it is on a par with Bolivia and Haiti, and among the highest outside Africa.

“The exploding population bomb has put the entire country’s future in jeopardy,” columnist Zahid Hussain wrote in the Dawn newspaper recently. With 60 per cent of the population younger than 30, nearly a third of Pakistanis living in poverty and only 58 per cent literate, he added, “this is a disaster in the making.”

The chief causes of the continuing surge, according to population experts, include religious taboos, political timidity and public ignorance, especially in rural areas. Only a third of married Pakistani women use any form of birth control, and the only family-planning method sanctioned by most Islamic clerics is spacing births by breast-feeding newborns for two years.

Even if the birth-rate slows, some experts estimate that Pakistan’s population could double again by the middle of the century, putting catastrophic pressures on water and sanitation systems, swamping health and education services, and leaving tens of millions of people jobless — prime recruits for criminal networks and violent Islamist groups.

But instead of encouraging fresh ideas to address the population crisis, the census has triggered a rash of arguments over whether certain areas have been over or undercounted, or reclassified as urban instead of rural. These squabbles amount to fights over political and financial spoils, including the number of provincial assembly seats and the amount of funding from the central government.

A few people, however, are paying close attention to the larger picture. One is Shireen Sukhun, a district officer for the Population Welfare Department in Punjab province. Her mission is to persuade Pakistani families to have fewer children and offer the families access to contraceptive methods — but she is keenly aware of the obstacles.

“The fatal combination we face is poverty and illiteracy,” Sukhun said. “It takes a long time to change people’s mind-sets, and we don’t have the luxury of leaving it to time.”

One outpost in her campaign is a tiny, bench-lined room in Dhoke Hassu, a congested working-class area of Rawalpindi. Inside, Rubina Rehman, a family welfare worker, listens all day to women’s problems with feverish babies, painful deliveries and other woes. Once they feel comfortable with her, she broaches the topic of contraception.

It has not been an easy sell. All the clients are Muslims, and most have little education. Some have been taught that God wants them to have many children. Some have husbands who earn too little to feed a large family but keep wanting another child. Some would like help but are too shy to discuss a taboo topic.

“When we first opened this post, women were frightened to come, and some people asked why we were against increasing the ummah [Muslim masses],” Rehman said. “But we explained how the prophet taught that you should have a gap of 24 months between each child, and that you should consider the family’s resources when making decisions. Now we do not face such opposition.”

On Thursday, a dozen women crowded into Rehman’s office, some carrying infants or toddlers. Several leaned close and whispered to her, then slipped packets of birth-control pills into their purses. One woman named Yasina, 35, explained proudly that she had gotten an “implant” — a hormone dose injected under the skin that prevents conception for several years.

“I already have five children, and that is more than enough,” she said. At first she had agreed to a tubal ligation, which the government arranges at no cost, but her husband, a labourer, would not allow it. “So I got the implant instead, and I didn’t tell him,” she said, bursting into laughter as the other women smiled.

Outside, the markets and alleys of Dhoke Hassu were teeming with a mix of Afghan refugees, migrants from rural Punjab and government workers. Some expressed confidence that God would provide for any children that came. But many said that it was important to balance family size with income and that their Muslim beliefs did not conflict with such practical needs.

“If half of our population is young, what will happen to their lives, their jobs, their needs?” mused Rizvi Salim, 29, a government railways employee carrying his only child, a two-year-old girl, in his arms. Salim said that he was raised with seven siblings but that today, “things have changed. We do believe that God will take care of us all, but we also need to plan for our futures.”

But upwardly mobile urban communities are more open to such perspectives than rural areas, where two-thirds of all Pakistanis live. In village life, the influences of traditional culture and Islamic teachings are stronger, and the reach of public media campaigns about baby spacing is much more limited.

Attempts to open rural family welfare offices are often met with community suspicion and political opposition, but health officials say more mothers are asking about birth control. The remaining major taboo, they said, is permanent contraceptive practices such as vasectomies or tubal ligations.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the population nearly doubled, from 17.7 million in 1998 to 30.5 million this year. The province is home to several million Afghan refugees, numerous Islamist militant groups and conservative religious leaders suspicious of supposed foreign plots to sterilise Muslims. But their views, too, are evolving.

“Islam does not contradict the idea of family planning, but it challenges the Western concept of birth control,” said Mufti Muhammad Israr, a religious scholar in Peshawar, the provincial capital. He said Islam allows “natural family planning” via breast-feeding but not “stopping the reproductive system permanently. The prophet Muhammad asked believers to marry and produce children.”

Hospital officials in Mardan, a large district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said this month that they frequently deal with cases of child malnutrition and often see mothers with several very young children. They said that although more married couples are seeking family-planning services, women still have difficulty getting their husbands to cooperate.

One pregnant housewife waiting to see a gynaecologist in Mardan had a small child on her lap and a five-year-old girl by her side. All looked weak and malnourished.

“My husband doesn’t care about my health or the health of our children. He can barely support us, but he wants more,” said Zarina Bibi, 34. She said that a doctor had advised her to take a break from childbirth for several years but that she had no choice. “My husband doesn’t want birth control.”

According to a World Bank report titled ‘State of Water Supply, Sanitation and Poverty in Pakistan’, Balochistan has by far the highest rural poverty rate, with more than 62 per cent of its rural population living below the poverty line. However, the gap between rural and urban poverty is the widest in Sindh at almost 30 percentage points. In contrast, the urban-rural gap in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was 13 and 15 percentage points, respectively.

Karachi, Lahore account for almost as many poor people as the 10 poorest districts do

The report said that the poverty head count rate in rural Pakistan was twice as much in urban areas — 36pc versus 18pc

The divide between Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab in the north and Sindh and Balochistan in the south was apparent and quite stark.

Religious scholar Mufti Rafi Usmani has said Aasia Bibi’s departure from Pakistan before the Supreme Court verdict on the review petition will result in a mayhem across the country.

Pakistan is passing through a turbulent time when various crises are rising one after another, and the current issue of blasphemy has created a wave of extreme anger among the faithful because they cannot compromise over love for Prophet Muhammad